Anyway, Colin and I have talked about school a lot more this year than we ever have because Jackson has definitely begun to show interest in more structured learning and because we have several friends whose kids are starting school and/or making decisions about home school, public school or private school. We still haven't made an official decision and I realize that the decision might change a million times even after we think we've made it.
I feel like part of my lack of decision making is because we don't REALLY know where we'll be living when Jackson hits school age. Which, by the way, Colin and I do agree that we'd like to start Jackson in Kindergarten when he's six ... at least we've made that a final decision. Where we are will make a difference (in my mind) of how we decide to school.
Colin and I still have a lot to talk about as far as what kind of educational experience we want for our children and how socialization fits into that as well. We need to answer big lofty questions like: what do we want our children to get out of school?
Whatever we decide for our children's future education I'm also trying to live in the present and presently Jackson is HUNGRY for learning. So, we decided to start a curriculum called "Five in a Row."
"Five in A Row" is a literature based curriculum that takes one piece of children's literature per week and extracts different subjects each day.
For example, the first book we read was "The Story About Ping" by Marjorie Flack and Kurt Wiese.
Our "school" time (which lasts about a half hour to an hour) Monday - Friday starts by reading the story of the week (I LOVE the idea of redundancy in teaching)and then we move on to a subject that is brought out in the story.
On Monday we studied Math and counted all the ducks in the book and practiced reading larger numbers.
Tuesday we studied Art and learned about different mediums and mixed primary colors to make secondary colors (I helped him draw the duck by the way, but he colored it).
Wednesday we studied Social Studies and talked about natural consequences and family relationships.
Thursday we studied Science and learned about buoyancy.
Friday we studied Geography and took a trip to China on YouTube.
You get the idea. It's been really fun for me and for Jackson and he begs to do "school" and will only call me "teacher" when we are. We've been doing "school" now since the middle of November.
The break we had with Thanksgiving and Christmas allowed me to see if Jackson was really interested in school or if it was just a phase ... he really does love to learn (surprise, surprise ... Colin and I are BOTH learners).
"Five in A Row" is really flexible and I really feel like it'll grow with Jackson until he's in the upper elementary school ages.
The only qualm I have with the curriculum is that the books can be hard to find in the library (at least our library) and I end up having to do inter-library-loans more often than I want to and our library doesn't have a smooth system for that. I recently went online and found a great website www.betterworldbooks.com and found most of the books on the book list for an average of $7.00, except the rare few that are out of print and are running for about $300.00 (I'll just skip those), but let me note that the proceeds go towards world literacy.
We're going to keep plugging away at "Five In A Row," but I'm going to remain flexible knowing that Jackson is only 3 1/2 years old. I'm excited about his love of learning! All the more reason to continue to keep prayerfully considering our education options for the future.
3 comments:
I am SO going to write a blog about schooling once we make our final decision. I'm pretty sure that Hannah will be going to Trinity or Cornerstone next year...but homeschool is still an option. Although, Hannah is doing so well in preschool I hate to take her out. We also started doing school. Jen Jamal actually used the five in a row too...and a couple other people that we know. Good luck!
it really is a hard decision, isn't it? i just keep reminding myself that our decision doesn't have to be set in stone. we can try homeschooling for a while and switch later if it isn't working for our family. we just go where we're led, right? and hope for the best and hope for our obedience unto Him.
I agree with the last comment...It isnt a black and white decision. There is not just one right answer and the answer for your family may change as time goes on. Those decisions are sometimes the hardest:)
I am really impressed by the Five in a Row curricilium :)
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